Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Recently there was a meeting of French faithful attached to the usus antiquior, the rencontre pour l’Unité Catholique (Meeting for Catholic Unity), in Versailles, France. In the course of the meeting, Fr. Laurent Spriet of the Association Totus Tuus made an important announcement.

(The Association Totus Tuus, which was established in 2007 by the Archbishop of Avignon and this year recognised canonically by Cardinal Barbarin, the Primate of Gaul and Archbishop of Lyon, is itself attached to the celebration of the usus antiquior, without excluding saying Mass in the Ordinary Form if so requested by the bishop. Msgr. Jean-Pierre Batut, former pastor of the Parisian parish of Saint Eugène-Sainte Cécile, which is equally dedicated to both forms of the Roman Rite, who was appointed auxiliary of Lyon last year, functions as the protector of this association.)

Fr. Spriet announced, that Cardinal Barbarin will open next year in Lyon a "bi-formalist" seminary, i.e. a seminary dedicated to both forms of the Roman Rite, which will be both taught and celebrated there. This is the first diocese in France after that of Toulon which offers this possibility to its seminarians. Cardinal Barbarin's project will even go further than that of Toulon: not only will the seminarians have the opportunity to be formed according to the extraordinary form, Mass according to the usus antiquior will be celebrated every day in the seminary, open to all seminarians, including those of the ordinary form.